Cape of Good Spanish

Waters outside the mouth of the Cape Fear River offer some great early action on Spanish mackerel.

Capt. Chad Casteen enjoys all the fishing available around the mouth of the Cape Fear River, near his native Southport. Maybe it’s their excellent taste, or it could be that they’re the signal that another summer is arriving, but Spanish mackerel is one of his favorite fish, and their return to his home waters is one of the high points of his year.

“I like to fish for Spanish, and it is a really good fishing trip for families,” Casteen said. “We can usually find them close to the mouth of the river, so it doesn’t require a long, boring boat ride, and once we find them, the action is typically pretty consistent and keeps the kids interested. Over the years, I’ve found you need to be catching fish within 45 minutes or you’ll lose the morale and attention of kids. Spanish mackerel fit that requirement pretty well.”

Casteen said a typical trip targeting Spanish begins by heading out either the Cape Fear River or Lockwood Folly Inlet. Once in the ocean, he begins looking for Spanish mackerel immediately. Sometimes they are as close as the rips and tidelines around the inlets, and it’s rare to have to go very far.

“Once out the inlet, I start looking for signs of feeding fish or birds feeding on smaller baits,” Casteen said. “These won’t be big birds like pelicans, but smaller birds like terns and gulls. If there are Spanish in the area, they will usually get under the bait schools and push them to the surface. Once the baits are trapped between the fish and the surface, the birds key in on them and begin feeding. A few birds attract more birds, and if the bait school stays on the surface very long, they are soon easy to spot.”

As soon as he finds signs of fish, Casteen sets out a basic 4-line spread and begins trolling. Even though you sometimes see Spanish busting the surface and cutting through schools of bait, he said they generally respond best to lures trolled below the surface.

Casteen’s favorite lures for Spanish mackerel are Clark Spoons, which come in a wide variety of colors and sizes. For Spanish in the Cape Fear area, he prefers silver spoons, with green or pink flash tape, in size 00.

King mackerel like these same spoons and colors, too, and it’s never a surprise to hook one when trolling for Spanish. Unfortunately, the spoons are small, and more kings are hooked than landed. It’s sort of like a built in way to have your own, “The big one that got away” story.

“Spanish have sharp teeth and really tear up the strips of flash tape on the Clark Spoons,” Casteen said. “However, it doesn’t seem to slow them down a bit. Once the Clark Spoons get a little fuzzy looking, they might even like them better.”

Sometimes, Spanish gather in large schools, jumping and splashing as they feed on small glass minnows. Casteen said many times when they can be seen, it is more productive to cast to them than troll, and it’s always more fun to cast to them and catch them on lighter tackle.

Casteen keeps a pair of light-action spinning outfits ready and rigged so he can react quickly if the opportunity for casting to Spanish presents itself. He likes to use Got-Cha jigs, similar to those used by fishermen on ocean piers, to cast to Spanish. He discovered that, just like for the pier fishermen, lures with gold hooks definitely draw more strikes.

A relatively new option for casting to Spanish is the Clark Caster, a small in-line weight and spinner snapped onto the eye of a Clark Spoon. The weight allows casting the light spoons and determines how deep the lure runs, while the spinner adds some flash to attract fish. They are available in gold and silver in eighth-, quarter- and half-ounce sizes. They were introduced three seasons ago and have become more popular every year.

“We are fortunate in the Southport area,” Casteen said. “We’ve got a big deepwater inlet, and usually there will be Spanish close by. The inlet is a ship channel, so it’s large and deep enough the Spanish will readily move into and through it, especially if they’re feeding on a school of bait that is moving with the tide.

“Even on days that are too rough to go out into the ocean, we can make productive Spanish trips inside the inlet,” Casteen said. “There is a rip that runs off Jaybird Shoal and another that forms on the Bald Head side of the ship channel.”

In the past several years when the area was in drought conditions and there was severely reduced outflow in the river, schools of Spanish chased bait as far upstream as the Southport-Fort Fisher ferry crossing. Folks riding the ferry often had front-row seats to watch fishermen catching Spanish in the river — and the fishermen usually appreciated the cheering section.

Casteen said several things are important for consistently catching Spanish mackerel. The lures and planers are made of light-gauge stainless steel and will bend. If they do, they don’t pull correctly and won’t catch fish. Both can be checked by simply holding them on a short line, just behind the boat, and watching them for a minute.

Planers should dive straight down; if they run to one side or the other, they are bent, and that could become a problem, but made of thin metal, they can usually be straightened by hand.

Lures become bent from the pressure of landing fish, and on one hand, that’s a good thing. However, when the lure stops working and the bite slows, something must be done, and the quicker the better. It rarely occurs when catching smaller Spanish, but when a king mackerel or cobia or shark hits one, especially the size 00 and 0 Clark Spoons, they can be bent. Most of the fish that throw the hook when trolling Clark Spoons have usually flexed or bent the lure until the hook pulled out. A Clark Spoon should spin freely when trolled; if it isn’t, it needs to be straightened or replaced.

“The rips around the inlets, the rip at the Hot Hole, the shell-bottom between the piers and Yaupon Reef (AR 425) are all good places to look for Spanish,” Casteen said. “Usually, you’ll find them and a few surprise fish at one of these locations. The surprises are kings, sharks, cobia and whatever else might be feeding in the area.”

On days when Spanish weren’t biting, or if someone wanted to tangle with larger or stronger fish, the boat ride to Frying Pan Shoals is a short one, and some hungry bluefish are usually feeding in the sloughs and along the shallow bars around the shoals. Casteen said blues will usually range up to a couple of pounds, but it isn’t uncommon to catch some that approached 10 pounds. The trolling method and spread is pretty much the same, but just a little slower than the 5- to 6- knot speed that attracts Spanish.

Many locals will tell you the only bad time to be fishing around the mouth of the Cape Fear River is when a hurricane is approaching. During June a hurricane isn’t very likely, but it is possible to fish up a storm, and Spanish mackerel are one of the most cooperative and best-tasting fish for the task. Casteen’s methods are time-tested and provide lots of smiles on the boat while you’re catching them, and again later when the tasty little mackerel becomes a welcome and special guest for dinner.